The use of nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) as a means of detecting explosives and other contraband has been recognized for some time. See e.g. T. Hirshfield et al, J. Molec. Struct. 58, 63 (1980), A. N. Garroway et al, Proc. SPIE 2092, 318 (1993), and A. N. Garroway et al, IEEE Trans. on Geoscience and Remote Sensing 39, 1108 (2001). NQR provides some distinct advantages over other detection methods. NQR requires no external magnet such as required by nuclear magnetic resonance. NQR is sensitive to the compounds of interest, i.e. there is a specificity of the NQR frequencies.
A detection system can have one or more coils that both transmit and receive, or it can have separate coils that only transmit and only receive. A transmit, or transmit and receive, coil of an NQR detection system provides a radio frequency (RF) magnetic field that excites the quadrupole nuclei in the sample, and results in the production of their characteristic resonance signals that the receive, or transmit and receive, coil (i.e. the sensor) detects. The NQR signals have low intensity and short duration. The transmit, receive, or transmit and receive, coil preferably has a high quality factor (Q). The transmit, receive, or transmit and receive, coil has typically been a copper coil and therefore has a Q of about 102. It can be advantageous to use a transmit, receive, or transmit and receive, coil made of a high temperature superconductor (HTS) rather than copper since the HTS self-resonant coil has a Q of the order of 104-106.
The large Q of the HTS self-resonant coil plays an important role during reception. In view of the low intensity NQR signal, it is important to have a signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) as large as possible. The signal-to-noise ratio is proportional to the square root of Q so that the use of the HTS self-resonant coil results in an increase in S/N by a factor of 10-100 over that of the copper system. The use of a high temperature superconductor sensor, i.e. receive coil, provides a distinct advantage over the use of an ordinary conductor sensor. The HTS sensor can provide greater sensitivity and/or smaller size.
The performance of a signal detection system can be improved by using an array of sensors, i.e. receive coils, to scan the band of frequencies of interest as compared to using a single sensor. An object of the present invention is to provide method and apparatus for scanning a band of frequencies using an array of sensors in a nuclear quadrupole resonance detection system.